Indian government tries to rein in tobacco growers with new penalty..

October 23, 2009 - India is the third largest producer and eighth largest exporter of tobacco and tobacco product in the world.. India is the fourth largest consumer of tobacco in the world.

The Indian government will impose a penalty of 15 per cent on the money earned by growers from the sale of flue-cured tobacco in excess of the quota allotted to them by the Tobacco Board, according to a PTI (Press Trust of India) story.

The penalty was five percent in respect of the 2008-09 season in Andhra Pradesh but farmers exceeded the quota anyway, tempted by huge increases in prices. PENALTIES ON TOBACCO GROWERS..

In announcing the new penalty, the Tobacco Board Chairman, J. Suresh Babu, said that as a signatory to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, India was under international pressure to bring down tobacco cultivation.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Trivedi back on September reiterarated that India was committed to bringing down tobacco production, There was a need to focus on finding alternative livelihood for millions of farmers and cottage industry workers, engaged in tobacco related activities. ((India committed to reducing tobacco production: Minister, United News of India (UNI), newKerala.com, 9/16/2009)

Reference: India tries to rein in growers with new penalty, Tobacco Reporter, 10/22/2009.

Click to enlarge image; Children wearing skeleton masks participate in an awareness rally on World No Tobacco Day, in Calcutta, India, Sunday, May 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Sucheta Das)